Speaking of Paige, she’ll be making her second appearance on Chris Jericho’s Talk is Jericho podcast this week.
– WWE NXT coaches including Bill DeMott, Norman Smiley and Robbie Brookside were all used in the pull-apart between Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns at the end of RAW. DeMott and Brookside were holding back Reigns as RAW went off the air.
– Last night on RAW, Titus O’Neil saved Darren Young from a beatdown at the hands of The Ascension, leading many fans to wonder if we were seeing the reformation of the Prime Time Players. With both men’s careers floundering in recent months/years (and the Rhodes Brothers breaking up), this doesn’t sound like a half bad idea. In this RAW Fallout video, Darren Young questioned whether or not he’s ready to team up with Titus again.
– The unidentified wrestler that teamed up with Darren Young on last night’s RAW was independent wrestler Kevin Kross. He’s wrestled for Future Stars of Wrestling out of Las Vegas, Nevada.
– The dark main event after Monday’s RAW from Orlando saw John Cena defeat Bray Wyatt. Wyatt dominated Cena for most of the match, until Cena made a come back and won with the Attitude Adjustment.
During the match, Wyatt got sick in the ring and threw up a “significant amount.” At one point, Wyatt lifted John Cena up, but lost his grip and dropped Cena, who suffered a cut from the botched spot.
Dark match. John Cena got cut on his face and Bray Wyatt is puking his guts out. Seriously. Wtf
WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon is gracing the cover of Muscle & Fitness magazine once again. At 69 years old, the boss of wrestling’s billion dollar empire is showing off some of the “chiseled granite” he used to talk about on commentary.
Visit MusclendFitness.com for subscription information and check out the magazine at your local news stand.
This week’s show opens with a shot of the jam-packed, sold out Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, followed by John Cena’s theme song hitting. The big mixed-bag reaction happens as Cena makes his way out to the stage to kick off this week’s program.
Cena addresses the packed house in Orlando and then shows footage of his brawl with Rusev on last week’s show. He talks about Rusev being a super athlete and undefeated, but promises to beat him at Fastlane this Sunday in Memphis. He says he’s fighting most importantly this Sunday to win the United States Championship.
With that being said, Rusev’s theme hits. Out comes The Bulgarian Brute accompanied by the Ravishing Russian Lana. They stand at the top of the stage and Lana speaks.
Rusev and Lana taunt Cena, resulting in Cena threatening him not to make one more move or he’s gonna come up there and kick his ass. Rusev does the “You Can’t See Me” gesture, so Cena takes his shirt off and runs up the ramp. Rusev takes his gear off and awaits him. Cena tackles Rusev. He smashes his head into the LED board at the top of the stage — twice. He leans over him and punches him ten times and stands over him shouting, “Any man can be beat!” We head to commercial break.
Dean Ambrose’s “Weekend Update” Skit
We return and the announcers bring up the 40th anniversary of Saturday Night Live. They show Dean Ambrose doing a Weekend Update type of segment sitting at a desk. Ambrose talks about facing Bad News Barrett for the I-C title at this Sunday’s PPV.
Luke Harper vs. Dean Ambrose
From there, we head to the ring, where we see Luke Harper standing. Ambrose’s music hits and out he comes with the contract for the match with Barrett at Fastlane. He sets the contract on the announce table, enters the ring and the bell sounds to make this one official.
Ambrose dominates the action early on as the announcers talk about the I-C title match against Barrett this Sunday. Harper knocks Ambrose out of the ring and floors him with a big boot as we head to a mid-match commercial.
When we return from the break, Harper is still in complete control of the offense of the match, which is now back inside the ring. Ambrose fights back, hits his Dirty Deeds and pins him 1-2-3.
Winner: Dean Ambrose
Backstage: Triple H, Big Show & Kane
We shoot backstage where we see Big Show, Kane and Triple H. Big Show and Kane argue until HHH tells them to shut up and reminds them that they represent The Authority. Big Show makes a joke about HHH looking bad due to Sting last week. HHH says he’ll handle Sting tonight.
Backstage: Bray Wyatt
From there, we go to another cryptic Bray Wyatt promo full of Undertaker-type references.
Backstage: Dust Brothers & Dusty Rhodes
We see Goldust and Stardust together when in walks Dusty Rhodes. Stardust blows his stardust and Dusty says “Damnit Cody, that’s what I’m talking about.” He tells him he’s gonna get through to him tonight. Goldust asks if Stardust can do this. Stardust offers his hand. Goldust shakes it. Dusty tells them to go out there and show everyone what the Rhodes family is all about. We head to a commercial.
Over the weekend, we ran a report that WWE talent is frustrated that the wrestlers at NXT get much more time to wrestle during their matches and are much less restricted with what they get to do in the ring. WWE Divas The Bella Twins appeared at Comic Con in Indianapolis over the weekend and corroborated the sentiment.
When asked about the women in NXT wrestling lengthy matches while WWE Divas only get a few minutes to work each week, Nikki said that she and Brie were just talking about that the other day. Brie said:
“I was saying that. If I was in NXT I would not wanna come up to the main roster because you get so much time down there. If you come to the live events you’ll see we get a lot of time at the live events. When it comes to TV we get so frustrated because it’s hard to tell a story in 3 minutes and especially when they want an entrance. We want time to wrestle. Especially after watching NXT Rival pay-per-view and seeing them go 20 minutes, it’s like a dream. It’s something we’d love and we’re trying so hard to get more time. There’s a three hour Raw and you can’t give more time to the Divas? But, hopefully in the future.”
They also spoke about Total Divas, with Brie mentioning that she thinks its silly for WWE to have the storylines crossover to WWE RAW. Since Total Divas taped months in advance, its difficult to act like the events that took place on Total Divas occurred the night before.
Cesaro’s Twitter account was hacked on Monday morning. @WWECesaro sent out a series of very controversial tweets which have since been deleted. Some of the tweets talked about hoping Vince McMahon gets cancer and encouraging people to get the hashtag #PushCesaro trending.
The hack comes less than a week after Seth Rollins’ social media accounts were hacked, publishing a nude photo of NXT Diva Zahra Schreiber.
The hacker of Cesaro’s Twitter account later tweeted:
For Cesaro’s sake, let’s get #PushCesaro trending.
This isn’t an attack at Cesaro by any means. This is purely me getting my anger out at WWE on Cesaro’s behalf.
Okay I’m gonna give this back to Cesaro now. Thanks for the fun. Cesaro, your new password is the same just with a 1 at the end
– Bray Wyatt’s “spider walk” is arguably one of the creepiest things on WWE television – but somehow it’s less creepy when performed by the world’s top super model. Paul Heyman’s Heyman Hustle site has published a photo of a certain Victoria’s Secret Angel showing that she’s make one hell of a Sister Abigail.
– NXT Superstars and Divas will be greeting fans as they enter the arena at tonight’s RAW from Orlando and tomorrow’s SmackDown taping from Ft. Lauderdale.
– There was a photo circulating online over the weekend showing a post from WWE’s Instagram page announcing that CM Punk has quit UFC and will be appearing on RAW tonight. We’ve received a lot of emails about it and can confirm that the “screenshot” is a fake and there is no truth to Punk quitting UFC or returning to WWE.
The following matches were taped on Sunday, February 15th at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida for the TNA One Night Only: Xtravaganza pay-per-view:
– Tigre Uno beat Sonjay Dutt
– Kenny King over Pepper Parks and Jay Rios
– Manik beat Mr. 450
– Rockstar Spud beat Dalton Castle
– Crazzy Steve beat Jonathan Cruzand Sanada
– DJ Z beat Mikaze
– Taryn Terrell over Brooke Tessmacher, Gail Kim, Angelina Love, and Madison Rayne in a ladder match to earn a TNA Knockouts Title shot.
– Davey Richards beat Eddie Edwards
– Rockstar Spudd beat Crazzy Steve, DJ Z, KenningKing, Tigre Uno, and Manik in an Ultimate X match to earn an X Division Title shot.
In honor of Presidents Day here in the United States, Lucha Underground President Dario Cueto has announced a 4-hour Lucha Underground marathon will air tonight on the El Rey Network.
The action kicks off at 7:30pm (Eastern) and will go head-to-head with all 3 hours of WWE RAW. This is the second time in the past month that El Rey has aired Lucha Underground opposite RAW.
If you have been discouraged with WWE programming and have access to the El Rey Network, we cannot stress enough what a refreshing alternative Lucha Underground is. Give it a shot!
WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair is currently scheduled for tonight’s WWE RAW from Orlando, according to a report at PWInsider.com.
Flair is booked for a segment with Triple H to hype Triple H’s meeting with Sting this Sunday at WWE Fast Lane. The idea is for Flair to talk about his own storied history with Sting in hopes of convincing Triple to take him seriously.
The decision to bring Flair in was made over the weekend.
As always, join us here tonight for Live Coverage of WWE RAW.
Former NXT Champion Sami Zayn recently spoke to Sport360.comabout being the first Arab champion in WWE. Zayn (real name Rami Sebei), who was born to Syrian parents in Montreal, Canada, joined the WWE crew for this past weekend’s tour of Abu Dhabi. He said:
“It’s very cool to come here and represent my people. It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do in terms of being an Arab presence in an Arab market as I don’t think a lot of people have been able to do it in wrestling.
“Certainly in the WWE there has never been a positive Arab image so if I can contribute to that then I feel great about that. Not just for myself but the whole Arab market.”
Zayn is thankful that he can “be himself” and has not been saddled with a controversial (or largely racist) gimmick like Muhammad Hassan was several years ago.
“I’m very proud that I can be myself. I’m not trying to be Arabic, I’m just being me and I happen to be Arabic. I think that might be refreshing to some people and it’s a bit more realistic than these pantomime villains we’ve seen before.
“Hopefully I can change some people’s perceptions being a down-to-earth human being that happens to be Arabic. Whether you’re Arabic or Portuguese it doesn’t really matter. A dude’s a dude!”
“You don’t get a lot of Arabs in wrestling so being able to represent is huge to me and honestly some-thing I’ve always dreamed of.”
WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair recently spoke with The Burton Mail to promote his U.K. Limo Riding Jet Flying Tour that takes place later this year.
Below are highlights from the interview:
On his status with WWE: “I appear on WWE programming about eight or nine times a year now. I think I could offer more and I think the management would like to use me more but it is about the others that have to follow me that they have to consider as well. I can be a very tough act to follow. I can still be active and will be for many more years to come, but they also have to take into account the other superstars at the same time.”
On his daughter Charlotte: “I think she can be the greatest diva of all time. She has all the attributes that can help take her all the way to the top and there is nothing stopping her from doing that. She has picked up the business so quickly and I am so proud of her for doing that. I now think it will only be a matter of time before she will be a major player in the WWE’s Diva division.”
Eddie Edwards has been diagnosed with a broken heel, which he suffered while wrestling a match at the TNA Xtravaganza pay-per-view taping this past weekend in Orlando, Florida.
Edwards was working a match against his tag-team partner Davey Richards when the injury occured. The timeline for his recovery from the injury is still unclear.
Edwards had to be helped out of the ring where he quickly sought treatment at a nearby hospital immediately following the match.
– In addition to Dusty Rhodes, there is another special guest scheduled for tonight’s WWE RAW in Orlando, Florida. No word yet on who it is, other than someone besides Rhodes is also scheduled to appear.
– WWE SmackDown and WWE Main Event will be taped on Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The entire crew, including John Cena, is scheduled for the show.
– NXT will be doing several weeks of television tapings on Wednesday, filming enough shows to carrry them through WrestleMania.
Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan will battle WWE Fast Lane on February 22nd to determine which man will challenge Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania.
The match was set up on RAW after Triple H’s major announcement regarding the controversy surrounding Reigns’ Royal Rumble win. There is a strong argument to be made why both of them are deserving of the title shot. Reigns won the Rumble, albeit with help from The Rock. Daniel Bryan was stripped of the gold last year after he was forced to undergo neck surgery.
No matter who you think deserves the WrestleMania title shot – which of them do you think will actually get it? Vote here:
As we all know, Raw is tonight. By show of hands, how many people are planning to bail before the end of the program? If this question were posed to last week’s viewing audience, over 250,000 hands would be in the air right now. That number represents the number of viewers who tuned in for the first hour but were long gone by hour three, and that’s not even counting the 600,000 viewers from the previous week who called in sick and didn’t show up at all.
Since Raw 1000, the program has been a three-hour fixture on Monday night, even though the company has done little with the additional hour in most cases. In all, the numbers show that it’s time to turn back the clock to Raw 999 and cut back to two hours.
Emma vs. Summer Rae in a dance-off? No thanks!
There are a number of reasons this makes sense. Most importantly, this roster is as thin as a two-dollar blanket right now. Take last week’s show, for instance. The company bookended the show with the nearly identical matches – neither of which was particularly memorable. By the end of the first hour, the crowd had already seen every participant in the main event compete in a match (aside from J&J, but they interfered in the Rollins/Ryback match). And please don’t get me started on how many times we’ve seen the Usos battle Miz and Mizdow over the past few months.
It would be a massive understatement to say that the shows have lacked direction in recent months too. I went back and watched a few episodes of Raw from 2012, right before Raw was permanently extended to three hours. Mind you, this was during the dreadful John Cena/Kane “embrace the hate” program, and even those shows featured more direction than the current product.
If the past is any indication, expect to see The Authority opening tonight’s episode of Raw.
By putting less stress on the writers and limiting exposure, they were able to establish a conflict (Kane attempting to terrorize Zack Ryder/John Cena), provide a climax near the middle of the show (Cena kissing Eve while Ryder hilariously looked on), and finally a resolution in the form of a catastrophe (Kane launching Ryder off of the stage).
They were able to build around this central storyline by sprinkling in five matches and a few entertaining segments that highlighted other members of the roster, ultimately creating a neat two hours of wrestling (or sports entertainment, whichever term you prefer). In recent weeks, the program has been an absolute mess, with the typical structure usually as follows:
The Authority starts the program by cutting the same boring 20-minute promo they cut every week and setting up a main event involving Kane and/or Big Show. Next is a match that they say will start after the break, usually trying to invoke some sense of suspense as to which superstars will be involved, but the roster is so thin that we know it will be Seth Rollins or an over-the-hill Authority goon competing against either Dolph Ziggler, Daniel Bryan, Ryback or Roman Reigns – usually ending in a non-finish. We next get a sagging middle with “comedy” matches and backstage segments that rarely go anywhere. Paul Heyman is sent out somewhere near the middle to try to save the crowd. A few more filler matches typically come next, and finally a tag match to end the show, which also usually ends in a non-finish. Eat. Sleep. Lose A Quarter Million Viewers. Repeat.
Even with the help of Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar, Raw lost over a quarter of a million viewers by the end of last week’s program.
The overexposure is killing everyone involved in the process, including talent, announcers, and even the fans, hence the reason they aren’t sticking around for the full three hours. I get that the company is trying to appease shareholders, and increased ad revenue is one of the easiest ways to do so, but in the end, they are doing long-term damage in exchange for short-term ad revenue.
This is also not to say that a wrestling promotion can’t put on an entertaining three-hour program. It is simply stating that this wrestling promotion has proven they are incapable of doing so. There are a lot of problems with the current product, from hotshotting anything that is remotely popular to underutilizing some of the company’s best talent to even dragging out storylines fans are disinterested in. However, the biggest problem with Raw, and perhaps the company as a whole, can be summed up in one word: overexposure.
How would you feel about Raw going back to two hours? Do you think it would improve the product? Voice your opinion in the comments section.
Tonight’s WWE RAW takes place from Orlando, Florida at the Amway Center.
With WWE Fast Lane just days away, we’ll see the final hype for Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns’ #1 Contender’s match and John Cena’s showdown with United States Champion Rusev.
WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes will be in attendance in hopes of getting his sons Goldust and Stardust to resolve their differences.
Other top stars advertised to appear include Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt, Kane & Big Show.
The dark match main event will see John Cena, Daniel Bryan, Roan Reigns & Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt, Kane & Big Show in an eight-man tag match.
As always, join us here tonight for our live results of WWE RAW.
– Ric Flair has reached an agreement with CBS Sports to host a weekly podcast on Play.it The venture is expected to be officially announced within the next two weeks.
In addition to talking about professional wrestling, the WWE Hall of Famer will interview musicians, actors and athletes.
– Next Sunday on E!, Total Divas will air head-to-head with WWE Fast Lane. Here is the synopsis for the episode, titled “Mo’ Money, Mo’ Purses”: “Nattie renovates her mom’s house; Brie tries to help with Nicole’s out-of-control spending habits; and Eva Marie starts to fear the worse for her dad’s health, and so she comes up with a Vegas bucket list for him.”
– Five episodes of Raw from 1996 have been added to the WWE Network vault—June 24, July 1, July 8, July 15, and July 22.
– Roman Reigns is currently trending as the No. 1. topic on Yahoo.com, with John Cena trailing behind at No. 6.
There is said to be a lot of unhappiness within the main WWE roster right now regarding the way NXT talents are given the opportunity to go out and put on excellent matches while many of the main WWE roster talents are relegated to short, nothing-type matches on television, especially those in the Divas division.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter editor Dave Meltzer offered the following update on his message board:
“So story is accurate but it’s inherent. It was the same thing in the OVW days, well not exactly the same, but similar. I get DMs from people on the main roster always after those specials. It’s a common frustration. The top NXT performers are frustrated they aren’t on the main roster making money. Then they will get more frustrated when they realize their dream. WWE guys are frustrated they aren’t having the matches guys in NXT are when they know if they can perform before 400 fans in longer matches they can tear the house down.”
The following are quick-match results of the TNA One Night Only: Knockouts Knockdown 3 pay-per-view taping, which was filmed on February 14th at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida:
– Gail Kim beat Cherry Bomb.
– Rosita beat Angelina Love.
– Havok beat Solo Darling.
– Taryn Terrell over Su Young.
– Brooke Tessmacher beat Mia Yim.
– Madison Rayne over Alexxis Nevaeh.
– Awesome Kong over Andrea (a/k/a Rosie Lottalove).
– Rebel, Knux, and Crazzy Steve beat Robbie E, Jessie, and Angelina Love.
– Awesome Kong won a battle royal featuring the previous match winners to become Queen of the Knockouts.
The following are quick-match results of the TNA One Night Only: Joker’s Wild pay-per-view taping, which was filmed on February 14th at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida:
– Robbie E and Jessie beat Al Snow and Mr. Anderson.
– Rockstar Spud and Awesome Kong over Sam Shaw and DJ Z.
– The Wolves beat Bobby Roode and Austin Aries.
– EC3 and Crazzy Steve beat Knux and Tyrus.
– Eric Young and Bram over Magnus and Tommy Dreamer.
– James Storm and Gunner beat Kenny King and Chris Melendez.
– Sonjay Dutt and Gail Kim beat Tigre Uno and Manik.
– Lashley and Khoya beat Abyss and Sanada.
– Lashley won the $100,000 battle royal featuring all of the previous match winners by eliminating EC3.
WWE Intercontinental Champion Bad News Barrett recently spoke with Graham Caygill of The National to promote the WWE tour of Abu Dhabi. Below are highlights:
On WrestleMania: “I am always down for being on WrestleMania. It is kind of a tough spot to get on to as we have a lot of legends that comeback for matches and it is sometimes very difficult to get on the card. But I would love to have a match. I think my ideal WrestleMania match would be me against Sheamus in a retirement match. I would get him out of the WWE for good so we would never have to look at his stupid face again.”
On being Intercontinental Champion: “The first time I had it was in 2011. I have had it five times now and when I look back and when I was a kid my favourites were the British Bull Dog Davey Boy Smith, Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart, the Ultimate Warrior, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, The Rock and as you mentioned they have all had that title. So it was a huge thing for me when I first won it in 2011. I am kind of used to carrying it around now and in this era I am the guy who has had it more than anyone I think, so I am very proud to carry that title.”
On guys he would like to face in the ring: “I think Roman Reigns is someone I have been in the ring with once before and he was very good. He beat me very quickly unfortunately, but he is someone I think is going to be a big star in the future in the WWE. Bray Wyatt is another one. I know we’re both bad guys at the moment, but one day I think I’d definitely like to do some work with him.”
On the Nexus angle in 2010: “A lot of people were telling me at the time they were surprised how well I was coping with that pressure, but to me I felt more pressure trying to get to WWE and struggling as an up and coming wrestler as opposed to being the guy at the very top. I loved that run. I had a lot of fun doing it, I thought we got some great reactions and we got some great storylines and TV out of it.”
On Ryback’s cricket ability after the pair took part in a cricket day while in the UAE: “He used to play baseball so I thought he was going to have skills that might crossover but I saw him trying to catch, I saw him bowling, I saw him batting and it was like he had never used his arms before. So yeah, he was pretty terrible. He was worse than me, which is saying something.”
Two-time WWE Divas Champion Paige recently appeared on “The Josh Podcast,” which is part of “Elvis Duran and the Morning Show.” The WWE Diva spoke out on a lot of topics in the professional wrestling industry, including NXT, the passing of Drew McDonald, “Total Divas,” social media and much more.
The 22-year-old spoke on the impact Drew McDonald had on her wrestling career:
“First of all, he was an absolute legend in the UK and European scene in general. I grew up around him. I’ve known him since I was literally a very small child. He meant so much to me. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be here. He was literally like an uncle, as well as someone who gave me the chance to have my dream job.”
“He always said be aggressive. I used to do a lot of wrestling moves, but instead he would say, ‘no you need to be more aggressive, you need to be more angry’. That’s where my head-butts come in, and this is where my knees come in.”
Additionally, the inaugural NXT Women’s Champion addressed the Divas division in NXT, and who she feels should be next to be promoted to the WWE main roster:
“I’m best friends with Bailey, but Sasha Banks is the full package. Like everything about her, she’s got a character; she’s got the moves. Backstage, she is so sweet and professional and actually amazing.”
Paige is quite popular on social media, with over one million combined followers on Twitter and Instagram. Despite this, she reveals that it can be an unpleasant experience.
“It’s so hard to read the comments. I try to, and people get so angry at me. I cant help it there are a lot of comments. A lot of them wind up being extremely rude or extremely sexual or something, I’m just like I can’t respond to that. I’d get in trouble if I tell a guy who says I suck like, ‘F you’.”
Paige also discusses her time in high school, “Total Divas,” among other topics. The audio interview is available here.
– WWE.com has published a photo gallery of the new Triple statue from McFarlane Toys’ WWE ICON series.
– David Otunga will be one of the hosts of this week’s WWE RAW Pre-Show tomorrow night on the WWE Network. Otunga could be filling in for Alex Riley, who recently returned to the ring in NXT.
– Rob Van Dam took a dig at the WWE creative team today when asked on Twitter about a potential return to the company:
